QMA appoints new chief investment officer, promotes new quantitative equities co-head

QMA, the multi-asset and quantitative equity specialist of PGIM, the $1.3 trillion global investment management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. ((PRU), has appointed a new chief investment officer (CIO) as part of a broad restructuring plan for its equity business.

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George Patterson (Photo: Business Wire)

George Patterson, currently the firm's co-head of Quantitative Equities, will take over as CIO, overseeing both the quantitative equity and multi-asset platforms.

"George shares our firm's commitment to continuous improvement," said QMA CEO Andrew Dyson. "He has the right combination of investment discipline and passion for innovation that is so critical to our investment process."

The restructuring will focus on the firm's core equity business, building on expansion in areas such as ESG (environmental, social and governance) and customized solutions, and the acquisition of London-based Wadhwani Asset Management in January 2019, whose CIO, Dr. Sushil Wadhwani, is unaffected by the restructure and will continue to report to Dyson.

Stacie Mintz, head of Equity Portfolio Management, will be promoted to co-head of the Quantitative Equities team, alongside existing co-head, Peter Xu. Both Mintz and Xu have been at QMA for over 20 years.

Gavin Smith, currently a senior portfolio manager at the firm, will take on additional responsibility as head of Equity Research, more closely integrating QMA's research team with the investment process. Both Mintz and Smith will report to Patterson.

"Our clients always come first and we do not shy away from difficult short-term decisions that will improve our long-term standing," added Dyson. "We have been concerned that QMA's equity portfolio performance in the last two-and-a-half years has been an outlier versus our 25-year history of delivering alpha for clients. Though we maintain strong long-term conviction in our models, after carefully scrutinizing all aspects of our investment process we found it necessary to restructure our portfolio management team."

Patterson takes over the CIO role from Roy Henriksson, who will leave the firm in October. Patterson joined QMA from Axioma in October 2017, hired by Dyson to co-head QMA's equity team. Previously, he was the CIO for Quantitative Investments at Bank of Montreal Global Asset Management, and has a long history in quantitative investing, including a senior portfolio manager role at Barclays Global Investors and co-founding Menta Capital LLC, a California-based quantitative equity hedge fund. He began his career at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, after earning his Ph.D. in physics at Boston University.

About QMA

QMA's data-driven and diverse techniques go beyond the formulaic to redefine the way we look at underlying investment signals. Applying an adaptive and rigorous quant approach that has been central to our objective to convert risk into return for over 40 years, we partner with our clients to overcome their toughest challenges.

QMA manages portfolios for a worldwide institutional client base, including corporate and public pension plans, endowments and foundations, multi-employer pension plans, and sub-advisory accounts for other financial services companies. As of March 31, 2019, QMA had approximately $90.8 billion in assets under management.

About PGIM

PGIM, the global asset management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (PFI) ((PRU), ranks among the top 10 largest asset managers in the world* with more than $1.3 trillion in assets under management as of March 31, 2020. With offices in 16 countries, PGIM's businesses offer a range of investment solutions for retail and institutional investors around the world across a broad range of asset classes, including public fixed income, private fixed income, fundamental equity, quantitative equity, real estate and alternatives. For more information about PGIM, visit pgim.com.

Prudential Financial, Inc. of the United States is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom or with Prudential Assurance Company, a subsidiary of M&G plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom.

*Pensions & Investments' Top Money Managers list, May 27, 2019; based on PFI total worldwide institutional assets under management as of Dec. 31, 2018. Assets under management (AUM) are based on company estimates and are subject to change.

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